#preservation

Introducing Preserving New York: Interview with Preservationist Kelly Carroll

July 14, 2022 by Mormei Zanke

New York City is home to some of the most iconic landmarks: Grand Central, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State, and the Statue of Liberty— to name a few. What you might not know is the city has the strongest landmark ordinance in the United States. In 1965, the New York City Landmarks Law was passed, which protects historic landmarks and neighborhoods from being altered or destroyed.

“A lot of people, when they come to New York, they come to see the buildings and a lot of the buildings that they come to see whether they know it or not, are designated New York City landmarks,” says Kelly Carroll, preservationist and community outreach specialist, with a decade of experience in the non-profit sector in New York City. Carroll teaches the NYU SPS CALA course, Behind The Scenes In New York: Preserving A City Of Historic Neighborhoods.

The Landmarks Law of 1965 is the basis of the course. Students are asked to identify a historic building or site and make the case for why it should be given landmark status. Carroll began teaching this class in 2020 and has taught it four times since. She will be teaching it again in Fall 2022.

“Every semester I have students that find a building or a spot in the five boroughs that I have never seen or heard of in my life,” Carroll says. She recalls some of the more obscure student work: an abandoned graveyard, the site of an ancient pear tree, and a WPA Depression-era washroom.

Carroll challenges her students to dig deep into the history and advocate for sites they care about. “What makes them significant? Who makes them significant? Who cares about them? Should we care about them?” Carroll asks.

We will be sharing four students’ final papers from the Spring 2022 course. Check back here on our blog to read more from our Preserving New York series. The following sites will be discussed:

Macy’s, Herald Square (Don Cantillo)
Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy (Janet Caraisco)
The William Sloane YMCA (Kristy Pavlick)
Nom Wah Tea Parlor (Kate Ringo)

“Neighborhoods and buildings are dynamic things, and places [are] constantly changing,” says Carroll. New York City is always evolving and growing, making it all the more important to protect this city’s landmarks. Carroll’s course stresses the importance of maintaining the historic fabric that makes a city unique, while also giving students tangible tools to campaign for landmark designations.

Behind The Scenes In New York: Preserving A City Of Historic Neighborhoods is a continuing education course that any member of the public can register for and is also one of the required courses in the Certificate in Historic Preservation. The course will be running again in the fall, click here to register.

Know Your Village: Kfar Sirkin, Israel

July 13, 2021 by Anne Maguire

This paper is part of a series for the Center of Applied Liberal Arts (CALA) at NYU SPS by students who took Kelly Carroll’s Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods in a previous semester. The course project looks at interesting buildings and other types of architecture in New York City, and elsewhere, that currently do not have landmark status. The authors in this series draw upon extensive research to share what is culturally and historically significant about each structure to make a case for why it is important to protect these sites from destruction and preserve them for future generations.

From student, Noa Atzom‘s paper:

“Kfar Sirkin was established in 1936, by a group of young immigrants from Germany, who bought the land from the Arab landlords.

The first and most important building needed to be built was the Water Tower. The tower and the water pump work together and provide clear drinking water to 300 households and farms to this very day. The Water Tower is located in the highest point of the village, it is 16 meters high/ 52.5 feet, it has 3 floors and one water pool where the water is kept.

Beside providing water the Tower had a few more functions. On the top of the tower was the main guard post, from where you can see the entire village and see if anyone is trying to reach it. Also, back in time in this small village they didn’t have any technical way to communicate, so from the top of the tower they communicated with the main city from east and the settlements on the mountains from west. They communicated using flags during the days and Morse Coding with a flashlight during the nights.”

For full paper click: Noa Atzmon Paper

Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods, taught by Kelly Carroll, is a continuing education course that any member of the public can register for and is also one of the required courses in the Certificate in Historic Preservation. To find out more about the certificate and other preservation courses, click here: Certificate in Historic Preservation

Fall 2021 Registration is now open and the courses below are being offered:

Understanding Traditional Architecture

Preservation Planning and Practice

Changing Standards in Historic Preservation

Know Your City: 60 Wall Street, New York

June 15, 2021 by Anne Maguire

This slideshow is part of a series for the Center of Applied Liberal Arts (CALA) at NYU SPS by students who took Kelly Carroll’s Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods last semester. The course project looks at interesting buildings and other types of architecture in New York City, and elsewhere, that currently do not have landmark status. The authors in this series draw upon extensive research to share what is culturally and historically significant about each structure to make a case for why it is important to protect these sites from destruction and preserve them for future generations.

60 Wall Street: “The tower was designed by Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo & Associates to fit its surroundings with a postmodern, Greek revival, and neoclassical look to emphasize both height and size. 60 Wall Street is surrounded by slender pre-World War II towers such as 70 Pine Street to the north, 48 Wall Street to the west, and 20 Exchange Place to the south, making a prominent impact on the Lower Manhattan skyline. The lobby has an entrance, open weekdays only, to the Wall Street subway station (2 and 3 trains) on the New York City Subway’s IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.

60 Wall Street is also known as a former locus of Occupy Wall Street activity during the protest occupation of nearby Zuccotti Park. In an October 2011 article in Bloomberg Businessweek entitled “60 Wall: The Real Headquarters of OWS,” reporter Mark Gimein noted that the atrium was scheduled to host activist events like “the “vision and goals” meeting, the facilitation training sessions, the communications meeting.” (Wikipedia)

Student, William Nemec, put together a wonderful slide show which describes the history of the building:

You can view the entire slideshow, which includes wonderful photographs, drawings, maps, and some fascinating observations here: 60 Wall St Slideshow by William Nemec

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Fall Registration opens after the July 4 holiday.

Know Your City: 325 Bowery – Home of CBGB

May 24, 2021 by Anne Maguire

This essay is part of a series for the Center of Applied Liberal Arts (CALA) at NYU SPS by students who took Kelly Carroll’s Behind the Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods last semester. The course project looks at interesting buildings and other types of architecture in New York City, and elsewhere, that currently do not have landmark status. The authors in this series draw upon extensive research to share what is culturally and historically significant about each structure to make a case for why it is important to protect these sites from destruction and preserve them for future generations.

Regina Richards and Red Hot at CBGB with Angelo Olivieri, 1978

Through many of our courses at CALA we celebrate the history and passions of our city and now through the Know Your City series we will focus attention on significant historic locations. One such landmark is located at 315 Bowery. Today, it’s home to the fashion house of John Varvatos, but in 1973, it was a bar and music venue called CBGB.

Christian Ricci’s essay, with wonderful photographs, and maps, explores 315 Bowery:

“Opened in 1973 on Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village, CBGB was a bar and music venue which features prominently in the history of American punk rock, New Wave and Hardcore music genres. The club’s owner, Hilly Kristal, was always involved with music and musicians, having worked as a manager at the legendary jazz club Village Vanguard booking acts like Miles Davis. When CBGB first opened its doors in the early seventies the venue featured mostly country, blue grass, and blues acts (thus CBGB) before transitioning over to punk rock acts later in the decade. Many well known performers of the punk rock era received their start and earliest exposure at the club, including the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie, and Joan Jett. During the New Wave era, performers like Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and even early performances from the Police graced the stage in the now legendary venue.”

Full paper here: Christian Ricci – CBGB

Links to Summer 2021 courses in historic preservation:

Behind The Scenes in New York: Preserving a City of Historic Neighborhoods

Understanding Traditional Architecture

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